The Nigeria Police Force has filed a notice of appeal challenging the judgment of Honourable Justice Lifu of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, which discharged and acquitted Bolanle Aseyan on a four-count charge bordering on alleged offensive publication, criminal intimidation and cyberstalking against Doctor Olufunmilayo Ogunsanya.
The appeal, dated October 2025, was filed by the Office of the Inspector General of Police through its legal officer, Emmanuel Eze, Esq., seeking to set aside the August 8, 2025, judgment and order a retrial.
Aseyan was accused of making defamatory publications between June 29 and August 14, 2020, via Twitter (now X), with the alleged intent to harm the reputation of Dr Ogunsanya. She was arraigned on four counts under sections 24(1)(a), 24(1)(b), 24(2)(c)(i), and 24(2)(c)(ii) of the National Assembly of Nigeria’s Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015.
However, Justice Lifu, in his ruling, held that while the prosecution proved the actus reus (criminal act) of the alleged offence, it failed to establish the mens rea (criminal intent), leading to Aseyan’s discharge and acquittal.
In the notice of appeal, the prosecution contended that the trial court erred in law by discharging the respondent despite acknowledging that the alleged publications were made and were offensive in nature.
Among the grounds listed, the prosecution argued that: The trial judge contradicted himself by admitting that actus reus was established but later acquitted the defendant on the basis of lack of mens rea.
The trial court failed to properly evaluate the exhibits tendered by the prosecution, including the offensive posts allegedly made from the respondent’s verified Twitter account.
The judge wrongly discounted the June 29, 2020 post made in the UK and other publications in August 2020 made in Nigeria.
The decision was based on sentiments, particularly by describing the incident as an “altercation between estranged lovers,” instead of a criminal matter.
The judgment was against the weight of evidence presented.
The appeal further faulted the trial judge for relying on testimonies from what the prosecution described as “incompetent witnesses,” adding that their accounts were hearsay and not based on personal observation.
“The recent flawed judgment by the high court judge Peter Lifu has been maliciously twisted into a vindication of the potentially false rape allegations made by Miss Aseyan. However the judge did not adjudicate on rape or rape accusation. She didn’t even take the stand to repeat her claims. The judge only looked into cyberbullying charges as brought by the police prosecutor- charges which were dropped on technicalities by the judge. It will be good to clarify to the public that the outcome of this cyberbullying charges does not in any way prove that her rape allegations are true. The rape accusations were already investigated in the uk by the police and the medical council who found her allegations to be untrue.”
The Inspector General of Police is asking the Court of Appeal to set aside the ruling of the Federal High Court and order a retrial of the case.
The case, which attracted public attention in 2020, stemmed from a series of rape allegations posted on social media, allegedly aimed at damaging Dr. Ogunsanya’s reputation.
The prosecution maintained that the offensive publications caused annoyance, inconvenience, intimidation, and reputational harm, in violation of the Cybercrime Act.
The matter will be heard at the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, Lagos Judicial Division.
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